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The Importance Of Having A Support Group In RecoveryJune 19, 2014

A support group is a necessity when struggles become so intense that all hope seems to be lost. The triumph of a support group coming together in unity should rise to the occasion with efforts to help, especially when it pertains to a person’s recovery from alcohol and/or drugs. Situations may become unbearable during this time, but it is possible for family and friends to come together to face these difficulties. An addict new to recovery is going to need all kinds of outlets, including some people of their past, as long as they are healthy for the addict to be around and are people that want them to flourish with their recovery. But can a support group coming together in unity really affect the recovery process? Of course! A support group is crucial because recovery is a life-changing process, and addicts/alcoholics are definitely going to need encouragement to reinforce their motivation for a new life.

A “Good” Support Group

Family

After coming into recovery, you may feel separate from the rest of your family, so you may be questioning them as part of your support group. It is not unusual for addicts/alcoholics to feel this way, especially because your active addiction could have put a serious amount of strain on the relationships you had with one another. The amazing aspect of dealing with the situations that were brought on a result of your addiction is that efforts to make amends can, over time and in some cases immediately, rebind the relationship. Many addicts feel overwhelmed because they know the harm they have caused and may even feel as though they will never be able to make up for it. This is why it’s important to remember not to get ahead of yourself because it takes time for people to heal, which can, unfortunately, sometimes take longer than the actual destruction process may have. Trust has to be rebuilt, even in families.

For some families, coming together in unity is second nature, so in times of crisis, they will turn to one another immediately for the utmost support. When someone in the family is having a rough time stopping a horrid habit like a drug and/or alcohol addiction, the family may see no other way to get through this than coming together, hosting an intervention, and aiding the member in discovering the next steps preceding some form of treatment.

Friends

When good-influencing friends become part of a support group, it can affect the recovering addict and reinforce the reasoning behind why staying clean is the best option for them. Friends coming together in unity helps the friendship broaden because it shows each person how they can be there for one another and reciprocate the comfort. Some addicts are so heavily in their addiction that they overlook the positive friendships they once had, so the ability to rebuild them shows the addict that there is maintenance involved in any relationships worth keeping.

There are different kinds of people that could work as a support group in this world, but most commonly in recovery we find that we are able to turn to new sober supports from 12-Step meetings, a sponsor, a therapist, faculty in an outpatient program, etc. Once we have that support there, it is crucial to reach out when we are in a bad spot. The relationship between you and your support can be rewarding, not just because they have the ability to be there for you and vice versa, but also because you are both coming together in unity as you further develop this new bond. It’s a beautiful thing to develop a healthy relationship where you can trust one another. Coming into recovery, you may have never thought this could be possible, but then you met people that had the same trust issues, and slowly could gain one another’s trust over a period of appropriate time. The closeness between one another strengthens and the relationships grow more. That kind of close bond benefits the recovering addict because this is an important necessity in building a support group and they may have been unfamiliar with those kinds of ties before entering into recovery.